Low-cost airline considers service at Pease

Thursday

May 28, 2009 at 4:08 PM

PORTSMOUTH — Regularly scheduled passenger service could return to Pease International Airport as early as next fall. Pease officials confirmed Thursday there have been preliminary discussions with a new low-cost airline, which expressed mutual interest in the city.

Adam Leech

PORTSMOUTH — Regularly scheduled passenger service could return to Pease International Airport as early as next fall. Pease officials confirmed Thursday there have been preliminary discussions with a new low-cost airline, which expressed mutual interest in the city.

JetAmerica began selling one-way flights between six U.S. cities this week for as low as $9 with flights scheduled to begin July 13. Portsmouth is not among the initial locations being considered, but is considered a future focus city for the airline.

The chief executive officer of JetAmerica is John Weikle, who founded Skybus, which offered low cost flights from Pease to Florida, North Carolina and Ohio. Due to a surge in jet fuel cost, Skybus went bankrupt in April 2008 — Weikle left the company in May 2007 — leaving Pease with no regular passenger service.

But Portsmouth is on a short list of about a half-dozen small and mid-sized cities not currently being served by larger airlines, and will be considered for service as early as 2010.

“Portsmouth is on the list of future focus cities,” said JetAmerica spokesperson Bryan Glazer. “John is very much married to the idea of Portsmouth. He brought Skybus there as an alternative to Logan and Pease was a great airport to work with.”

Pease Development Authority Executive Director David Mullen said talks began last fall, when the company was known a SunAmerica, but they are hopeful talks will develop into negotiations. Preliminary discussions are also ongoing with other airlines as well, he said.

“We have been talking to them and they are on the radar screen,” said Mullen. “Nothing is conclusive at this point in time, but we continue to talk to them to see if Portsmouth will be on their radar screen.”

Mullen said he hoped an arrangement could be made before the fall to maximize the historically popular Portsmouth to Florida market. Glazer the company will begin examining possible expansion cities in October. The earliest the airline would announce new cities is summer 2010.

“We have a very conservative business plan,” said Glazer. “It is not Skybus reinvented. That happened 11 months after John left the company.”

Initially, the airline will service Toledo, Ohio; South Bend, Ind.; Melbourne, Fla. (which is approximately 70 miles from Orlando); Newark, N.J.; Minneapolis, Minn.; and Lansing, Mich. JetAmerica will be subsidized with approximately $1.4 million in grants, secured by the airports, from the U.S. Department of Transportation Small Community Air Service Development Program, which will help insulate the carrier from spikes in jet fuel.

Glazer said JetAmerica is also asking airports to waive landing, take-off and gate fees, as well as provide money for marketing campaigns. Mullen said that is something Pease would consider.

“They are looking for a significant amount of marketing support,” said Mullen. “We’ve entertained doing that in the past and we’d entertain doing it again. The question would be the routes they are providing and cost involved.”

Any proposal would require approval from the PDA Board of Directors, Mullen said.

The airport recently underwent a $3.2 million overhaul to separate passengers and baggage from international and domestic flights, which ensures troop flights will not disrupt and passenger flights.

Current enplanement projections would place Pease under the amount needed to gain $1 million in discretionary funding from the Federal Aviation Administration. If the number comes in below 10,000 at the end of the calendar year, they would receive only $150,000.

Pease was projecting 300,000 enplanements a year before Skybus filed for bankruptcy. Mullen said jet fuel prices have since leveled off.

“Fuel was a major reason for pulling the plug,” said Mullen. “If they had the benefits of today’s prices, I think Skybus would continue to operate here.”

Advertise

Original content available for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons license, except where noted.
seacoastonline.com ~ 111 New Hampshire Ave., Portsmouth, NH 03801 ~ Privacy Policy ~ Terms Of Service